England is the perfect place for you to travel to if you’re thinking about taking your first abroad trip. You’ll need to prepare for the trip with some international travel basics and map out a realistic itinerary（旅程）to make the most of your experience.

Get Your Paperwork Done

【小题1】 If you don’t have a current passport, you’ll need to bring your pictures and some proof of your citizenship—a birth certificate, a certificate of naturalization, or a certificate of citizenship—to a post office. Fill out a passport application, and in a month you’ll have your passport.

Plan Your Trip.

Plan your trip to England in early to mid—October or in mid— to late March, because that’s when flights are the cheapest. During the winter, the days grow very short. Besides, sunlight is sometimes limited to less than eight hours per day. 【小题2】

Settle Yourself in England

Find affordable accommodations by staying at a hostel. Hostels vary in shapes, forms and sizes. 【小题3】 If you can afford to stay at a hotel, make sure you are aware of check—in times and policies.

To get around England, the most common methods are bus and rail 【小题4】 Passes for a full day, week, or month can save you money if you’re going to take the Tube for even a few stops.

【小题5】

Buy a budget travel book to find attractions and sites in cities such as: London, Bath, Cambridge Oxford, Canterbury, Leeds and Wimbledon. Popular attractions include: Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Portobello Market and the Tower of London in London; Bath Abbey in Bath; the colleges of Cambridge; and the Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury.

Color is fundamental in home design — something you’ll always have in every room. A grasp of how to manage color in your spaces is one of the first steps to creating rooms you’ll love to live in. Do you want a room that’s full of life? Professional? Or are you just looking for a place to relax after a long day? 【小题1】

Over the years, there have been a number of different techniques to help designers approach this important point. 【小题2】 But good news is that there’re really only three kinds of decisions you need to make about color in your home: the small ones, the medium ones, and the large ones.

【小题3】 They’re the little spots of color like throw pillows, mirrors and baskets that most of us use to add visual interest to our rooms. Less tiring than painting your walls and less expensive than buying a colorful sofa, small color choices bring with them the significant benefit of being easily changeable.

Medium color choices are generally furniture pieces such as sofas, dinner tables or bookshelves. 【小题4】 They require a bigger commitment than smaller ones, and they have a more powerful effect on the feeling of a space.

The large color decisions in your rooms concern the walls, ceilings, and floors. 【小题5】 So it pays to be sure, because you want to get it right the first time.

When it comes to being socially successful, the quantity of your relationships is irrelevant. The important thing is the quality of them. I would rather have a small team that works in concert than a big team so scattered（分 散的）that nothing ever gets done. It’s better to have a few close friends who love you for who you are than a lot of acquaintances who you’re not so comfortable with.

Here are five ways you can make people enjoy being around you.

There is a big difference between healthy confidence and arrogant（傲慢的）cockiness. A confident person, when complimented（赞扬）about a wonderful thing they did, would reply with a simple “thank you.” A cocky person would take the opportunity to perform an unscheduled Academy Award acceptance speech. A confident person would offer praise for everybody who contributed to their success. A cocky person would claim all the credit for themselves without a second thought. Cocky people might experience temporary perks, but long-lasting success is a prize reserved for the confident.

You should welcome your friends and coworkers with open arms. It’s hard to find a person who will offer a listening ear in time of need, so fulfilling that need will help you become a person people trust. But there can be too much of a good thing. If you find yourself with invitations you’re not that interested in, don’t be afraid to politely reject them. If your schedule becomes occupied by people desiring your attention, set some ground rules and prioritize（优先考虑）. To take care of others, you must first take care of yourself.

Receiving honesty with no filter（过滤）is like finding a massive glass of ice water during a desert adventure. Speak words of truth, and people will be refreshed to hear them. Most people sugarcoat their opinions, so a willingness to tell it how you see it will win the appreciation of your friends and coworkers. But here’s the catch: delivery（表达）is everything. There is a big difference between “Your article sucks” and “I like the general concept, but I think it might play better if you try if from a different angle.” Truth is something you should aim for, but it isn’t a ticket to be nasty to people. To deliver honest and helpful feedback, use this sentence structure: “I liked (insert positive quality), but I think it would be better if (constructive criticism/ suggestion for improvement).”

Have you ever found yourself nervous while fielding questions in a job interview or talking to a cute person you have a crush on? So eager to make a positive first impression that you can’t escape the constant stream of thoughts causing you to doubt if you’re saying and doing the right things? As a consequence, you might find yourself so self-absorbed that you can’t focus on what the other person is saying. The less time you spend questioning yourself and the more time you spend actively listening to the other person, the better off you will be.

There is a thin line between being assertive and overbearing, so let’s take a look at their definitions. as·ser·tive (adjective): having or showing a confident and forceful personally over·bear·ing (adjective): unpleasantly or arrogantly domineering （专横的）

An assertive person would confidently (and politely) ask friends or networking contacts for help if they needed it (and hopefully offer to return the favor). An overbearing person would force people to get what they wanted without a second thought about how their actions affected others. Being overbearing will make people avoid you because no one wants to help a pushy person.

Being assertive will attract people to you, if you can reflect confidence and enthusiasm.

Five Secrets of Socially Successfully People